'What was their crime?': BBC visits Iran school where strike killed 120 children

What the report says

BBC World News reported from Minab in southern Iran nearly five months after a strike destroyed parts of Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School, killing 156 people, including 120 children, according to the Minab prosecutor’s office. The attack occurred on 28 February during the opening hours of the US-Israeli war with Iran. The school stood beside an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps compound that satellite images showed was struck multiple times.

The BBC account centers on teacher Amaineh Nademi, who returned to the ruined classrooms where she taught first-grade girls. She described a normal Ramadan school morning that changed after staff were told to close the school and call parents. She said a blast was followed by a missile hitting the school, heavy smoke, injuries to children around her and the collapse of the building. She recalled later realizing many pupils and staff had remained trapped under rubble.

The report also cites Iranian Red Crescent worker Reza Besharati, who said rescuers arrived quickly but found no survivors in the wreckage and that families searched frantically for children. Teachers reportedly still visit the site to pray, while recovery efforts for remains have continued.

BBC said experts found evidence indicating US forces likely struck the school, noting analysis of a Tomahawk missile hit on the adjacent IRGC complex, satellite images and US operational maps in the area. The US has not accepted responsibility. US officials said civilian sites are not targeted and opened investigations, while US media have reported preliminary findings suggested outdated intelligence may have wrongly treated the school as part of a military site. Iran denies the school was on an active IRGC missile base.